Overseas news: Deutsche Bank, BoA hit by fines, China opening up for card payments

Deutsche Bank was hit overnight with almost US$2.5 billion in fines for Libor manipulation by several regulators: Britain's Financial Conduct Authority (Â£227 million) along with the US Commodities Futures Trading Commission (US$800 million), the US Department of Justice (US$775 million) and the New York Department of Financial Services ($600 million). "Deutsche Bank's failings [in having inadequate controls and defective audit systems] were compounded by them repeatedly misleading us," said Georgina Philippou, FCA acting director of enforcement and market oversight. "This wasn't limited to a few individuals but, on certain desks, it appeared deeply ingrained." This misconduct involved at least 29 Deutsche Bank individuals including managers, traders and submitters, primarily based in London but also in Frankfurt, Tokyo and New York.

The UK's Financial Conduct Authority also fined Bank of America Â£13.3 million (A$25.8 million) for failing to properly report millions of transactions, reports AFP. The penalty was handed down to Merrill Lynch International, the group's corporate and investment banking division. The FCA said in a statement that the division had incorrectly reported 35 million transactions and failed to report another 121,387 between 2007 and last November.

Deutsche Bank co-chief executives Anshu Jain and Juergen Fitschen met with German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble earlier this week, ahead of a decision on a major restructuring according to sources cited by Reuters. The overhaul, to be announced as early as today will include a sale of Deutsche's Postbank arm and possibly also its own-branded retail network. The shake-up, which would allow the bank to focus on more-profitable investment banking, could cost thousands of jobs.

China will open up its market for clearing domestic bank card transactions. This will allow foreign firms to apply for licenses to establish bank card clearing businesses starting from June 1. Bank card consumer transactions for both credit and debt stood at $6.84 trillion last year, up 33 per cent from the previous year, according to Reuters.